CLUB YACHTING
CLUB MARINE PITTWATER TO COFFS
A COMMENDABLE EFFORT BY ALL COMPETITORS
A fleet of 39 monohulls lined up for the start for the 2016 Club Marine Pittwater to Coffs Harbour Yacht Race on Saturday 2 January . Karl Kwok ’ s 80 foot maxi , Beau Geste took full advantage of the little breeze available and jumped ahead of the pack leaving the rest of the fleet scrambling for a good start in the light shifty breeze . 10 minutes behind the start of the monohulls , the three multihull competitors started their race .
With the Bureau ’ s forecast predicting a strengthening southerly the slow start soon became a quick run up the coast . With the weather favouring smaller boats for handicap honours it made it anyone ’ s race on corrected time .
Early the next morning , the distinct charcoal coloured Beau Geste could be seen on the horizon coming in to the harbour riding in on the 15 knot southerly . At 0745 the 80 foot maxi crossed the finish line winning their second Club Marine Pittwater to Coffs Race just shy of the race record made by Wild Oats IX in 2003 . Beau Geste ’ s owner Karl Kwok was happy to finish in the daylight not knowing how close his boat made it to the record .
“ Last year we finished at night and this year I wanted a daylight finish and I achieved that but I didn ’ t know it was so close to the record .” Said Mr Kwok .
Just over an hour later , Morticia , came into the harbour winning line honours for the first multihull . The 9.2m black hulled trimaran , which can be folded up and put on a trailer for transport , housed only four crew with tiny living quarters with only just enough room for a kerosene stove to heat up yesterday ’ s takeaway food and a small bed . What the boat lacked in comfort it boasted in speed and with a hard working crew the boat powered away from the other two larger multihulls .
“ We spend a lot of time doing prep work for this race ; we usually put 10 hours of prep per one hour on the water , so we were confident we would get through OK .” Said Mortica ’ s owner , Shaun Carroll .
A few hours later the remaining two multihulls finished the race followed by the TP52s . After that was a constant trickle of finishers throughout the day and night with the last boat , Out of Sight finishing in Coffs at 0632hours on Monday January 4 .
Once all the boats were safety tied up , the final placegetters were declared with Beau Geste winning both
22 YACHTSMAN